MISSIONARY SISTERS ASSISTING THE DISPLACED (STANDARD, CHURCH/RELIGIOUS AFFAIRS)
Our agency continues receiving adjournments on the conditions of the missionary personnel in East Timor. Local religious sources indicate that though the situation is dramatic, the 40 Don Bosco Salesian Sisters are unharmed. Sister Paola Battagliola of Manerbio (Brescia), is currently, together with another American sister, assisting about 80 displaced people, including women and children, at the St. Giovanni Bosco community in Dili. Despite evident difficulties, the sisters are incessantly assisting the tragedy-stricken displaced. While another two sisters of the same Institute, Regional Salesian Superior of South-East Asia Sister Lina Chiandotto (Vicenza) and Sister Carmen Rosa Tallo (Spanish, originally from the Canary Islands) have already left the Island and are currently in the Indonesian capital of Jakarta. The General Administration of the Institute, through MISNA, `urges all Sisters around the world to pray'. This afternoon in Rome a group of Salesian Sisters will participate in a demonstration in front of the Indonesian Embassy, demanding an immediate end to the massacres. (BO)
MISNA - Missionary Service News Agency